This application is directed to vertical take-off and landing aircraft designed to replace motor vehicles as the basic method of passenger transportation. More particularly, this application relates to a vertical take-off and landing aircraft having a circular body and a shape which, in cross section, is substantially equivalent to one or more air foils.
Because of their design, helicopters are inherently limited in the number of blades which the rotating mechanism can carry. As the rotation of each blade increases from rest, a pressure differential is created between upper and lower surfaces of the blade whereby lift is achieved. These generally horizontal rotating blades are referred to as the power blades. The most efficient area of power blades during lift is that area adjacent to the outer periphery or tip of the blades. The amount of lift generated by the rotating blade is essentially proportional to the area of the blade per unit length of the distance the blade travels. This proportionality changes from the tip of the blade to the axis of rotation, at which point the lift per unit area is almost nil. The lift created by a rotating helicopter blade is proportional to the inclination of the blade or angle of attack of the blade in relation to the air. The relationship of lift per unit length is proportional to the distance from the axis of rotation at whatever angle of attack the blades are set.
The force of the rotating blades needed to lift the helicopter also produces an undesirable gyroscopic effect. Without some means of correction, the gyroscopic effect of the blades would spin the body of the helicopter out of control. In helicopters, the gyroscopic effect caused by rotation of the power blades is typically canceled (i.e., balanced) by the use of a tail rotor.